Stygian Mage

Soren went out of the inn and walked towards the main entrance of the town. They were supposed to leave today so he was now going to the meeting place that had already been decided before. His inn was not that far from the main gate so it didn’t take him long before he could see a group of people gathering in front of the entrance. Apart from these people, there were also eight horse-carriages lined up by the side; two horses for each carriage. The journey to Bycrest was going to be a long one and using Mana Vehicles in such a situation was not feasible; the cost of supporting such a long journey was not something that these merchants were willing to bear. Moreover, they were also transporting large goods that could not fit in their Storage Pearls; especially when they were already packed with other goods. As such, they had to go for the option of horse carriages since they were much cheaper in comparison.

“Hello, my name is Soren Farrow.” Soren walked towards the group and introduced himself to the person who looked like he was in charge; it was a gray-haired old man who was wearing a blue shirt with black embroidery on it and brown trousers.

“Soren Farrow……” After hearing Soren’s name, the old man quickly checked out the list he was carrying in his hands, assuming that Soren was one of the Initiators joining the mission; the list had the name of all the Initiators who had taken up this mission. Going through it once, he easily found Soren’s name under the Rank 1 list with his cultivation level mentioned on the side; it was Rank 0.

Of course, just because it was written Rank 0 in his list, the old man didn’t underestimate Soren; especially after knowing that Soren had accepted the Rank 1 part of this mission. He was well aware of how it worked with the Hunters. He was an Initiator himself and had also worked for the Hunter’s Association for many years. So, relying on his experience so far, he deemed it smart to ask Soren directly, “If I may ask, Sir, what is your cultivation rank?”

Soren also had no reason to hide his cultivation, and so, he simply answered, “Rank 1.”

The old man knew very well that many Initiators liked to hide their cultivation level and usually lied about it being lower than it really was. But, in his lifetime, he had never seen a case where an Initiator had lied about his rank being higher than it truly was; in his opinion, that was just asking death to come at their doorstep. And based on that, he believed that today was also not going to be an exception to that fact. As such, he truly believed that Soren was at least Rank 1, if not higher.

…….

Soren had to wait a while before the group started their journey. Including him, there were three Rank 1 Initiators in total joining this mission. One of them was with the merchant group while Soren and the other Initiator were hired from the Hunter’s Association.

To show respect to these high-ranking Initiators, the merchants had provided each of them with an empty carriage; while this made the other carriages a little crowded, they chose to endure it.

And like that, the group of carriages slowly moved forward towards the destination.

…..

Sitting alone in the carriage, Soren had ample time to work on the important things. For his cultivation technique, the progress had been quite slow in these last few days. The reason behind that was simple; he didn’t have enough data regarding the cultivation techniques of higher grades. All he had right now was a bunch of low-grade cultivation techniques that were very similar to each other in terms of their basic structure.

So, after considering that fact, Soren had decided to focus on creating the defensive spell first. Of course, even for that, he was lacking data for reference. As such, the only thing he could do now was to have Isaac simulate some ideas that he had in his mind. Although these ideas did not have any proper structure and probably wouldn’t work in real life, he nonetheless had them simulated in hopes of finding the right direction.

And like this, few days passed by…..

While Soren didn’t see much success in developing the defensive spell during this time, he did improve the mastery in several of his spells. That was because whenever the carriages stopped for rest, he went away to practice his spells. And after a few days of repeating such actions, people in this group automatically became used to this habit of his and didn’t bother him.

During this time, Soren also became acquainted with the other Initiator who was hired from the Hunter’s Association; it was a girl who looked to be around 20 years old and had silver, long, and silky hair. Upon scanning her, Soren found that her cultivation level was actually higher than his; Rank 1: Layer 2. And not only her, but the Initiator that was with the merchant group also had a higher cultivation level than his; Rank 1: Layer 3. Of course, Soren had no intention to antagonize either of them, to begin with; their higher cultivation level only cemented that intention even more.

“Mr. Hamish, how far is the next town,” Soren asked the black-haired middle-aged man who was wearing a thin white shirt with folded sleeves and loose black trousers. This middle-aged man was the head of this group of merchants and was responsible for everything; from small to big.

“Sir, it will take at most three days from here.” The middle-aged man first bowed with respect as he saw Soren and then answered his question. The way to Bycrest was a long one, so they were planning on making multiple stops in between. And their next stop was a town called Kilguard.

“Do you need anything else, Sir?” Hamish politely asked Soren.

“No, you can be on your way now,” Soren replied as he then went on his way to practice his spells.

The group was currently taking a food break and had stopped by the side of the dirt road. Everyone was sitting around the fire and was having fun. Some were sharing their stories of the past; some were completely drunk and kept hitting on the maids of the merchants. These dirty and rough looking people were actually low-level Rogue Initiators that the merchants had hired; some were from the Hunter’s Association while some had been hired directly. The mission that these merchants had issued in the Hunter’s Association was, in fact, divided into two parts; for Rank 1 and for Rank 0. Soren had accepted the one meant for Rank 1 Initiators; of course, these Rank 0 Initiators could also accept that, but they didn’t dare to do so as they knew the consequences of such action.

Soren had already become used to this kind of atmosphere by now, so he didn’t have much reaction and just went on his way. Being a Rank 1 Initiator, he could not join these people so easily. That was because he knew that doing so would destroy the light mood around the camp; the reason for that was the difference between each major rank. Unless they were related or were in the same group or organization, different ranked Initiators seldom mixed with each other. Soren had become acquainted with several Rank 1 Initiators before only because of his special circumstances.

“Going to practice your spells again?” The silver-haired Rank 1 Initiator, Olivia, asked Soren as she saw him going towards the deep woods. She was currently wearing a silver armor that covered half of her body; under which she was wearing a golden dress that looked like it was made from an extremely expensive material.

“Why, do you want to join me?” Soren joked as he kept moving without waiting for her reply.

Seeing Soren’s silhouette fade away in the deep woods, a smile formed on her round face which still had some baby fat on it. From the way she handled herself, Soren could easily tell that she was a sheltered girl who had probably decided to go on an adventure to hone her skills. And given his past experiences; Soren didn’t want to get involved with such people at all. The only reason they became acquainted at all was that, for some reason, this girl was very interested in Soren and had kept striking conversations with him.

…….

The time went by peacefully as Soren finished his spell practice and prepared to return to the camp. This session had been quite productive for him as he gained some insights on how some of his spells worked; which, in turn, increased his mastery level. Not only that, but he had finally managed to max out his mastery level in <Elemental Sense> and had made it his Innate Spell. This fact meant that there was no limitation on this spell anymore. He could keep using this spell as long as he had Mana in his Core to spare.

“Spell Mastery Increased. Elemental Sense – Level 10/10.”

“Spell Vessel Assimilated. Innate Spell Learned: Elemental Sense – Level 10/10.”

“Spell Evolution Possible.”

With this spell now becoming his Innate Spell, Soren gained another boost in his confidence as a worthy Spellcaster.

Other than that, the practice and study of his <Dark Gravity> were also coming along nicely. Although Soren hadn’t ignored other spells, his entire focus during the recent times had been on this one. As proof of that, his mastery level in this spell was already very close to max.

……

Soren started walking towards the camp with Argus following behind him with his small limbs. As they walked through the jungle, Soren took out his staff from his Storage Pearl and inspected the crack running through its spine. This was the same staff that Faron had given him when he was going on his first mission with Ellie and the others; Soren had used this staff in almost every battle since then. But in the last battle with those eight Rank 1 Initiators, this staff had cracked due to the heavy pressure from Soren’s Mana. Although it still could be used as a magic staff, its effect had been reduced to almost nothing. And so, Soren had been thinking of buying a new staff once he reached a well-developed town or a city.

He had some hope for this next town, Kilguard, as he had heard from the merchants that it was a small trade hub. While it could not compare to the big cities like Bycrest, it was still huge when compared to the other towns in this area. Given that, Soren was hoping to get a good magic staff in this town. Of course, if there was something else that caught his eye there, he would also try to get that.

“AAHHH!!!!”

As Soren’s thoughts took him to Kilguard, he heard a high-pitched scream coming from a nearby place. Although he was still not familiar with all the people he was traveling with, he could tell that it was one of the maids who had just screamed. So, even if he didn’t want to, he still sped up and moved towards the camp to see what was going on. He was using this mission to travel to his destination without much hassle, so the least he could do was protect these people from some trivial dangers. Of course, if the situation became something that he couldn’t handle, he was going to bolt in a heartbeat.

“It’s the Stone Hounds. Prepare to engage in combat; take a stance.”

By the time Soren reached the camp, he heard another loud voice commanding the low-ranked Initiators to prepare for battle; this voice belonged to the leader amongst the Rank 0 Initiators. The Stone Hounds usually hunted in packs and used their numbers to kill their prey; individually, they were not strong at all. With their power, they only posed a threat to the Non-Initiators and the low-ranked Initiators. So, after hearing that it was the Stone Hounds, Soren immediately eased up and slowed down his speed as he walked towards the core of the camp. Everything was fine as long as he protected the core of the group; the merchants and their luggage.

The merchants and the non-combatants had already gathered at the center of the camp and were currently packed together with worry written all over their faces. Even though many amongst them were Initiators, they, in fact, did not have any actual combat experience. And while they had been in such situation many times before, they were never able to get used to it; even the fact that they had full confidence in the power of the Rank 1 Initiators, especially the one who had been with them for a long time, did not help in this matter. This was because they knew that they were worth nothing in the eyes of a high-ranking Initiator.

Given that, after they saw Soren walk towards them, their worried heart indeed eased a little, but they still didn’t dare to relax and stayed on high alert. Only after Soren cast his <Withering Wood> and covered these people in a thick dome of wood of about three meters in radius, did they loosen their tensed body and heaved a sigh of relief.

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